Avoid A Cat-astrophe: Commit To A Team Knowledge Base Trello Board

"Knowledge Base Management System."

While that phrase seems like a jolly jumble of business word jargon, every team has one (yes, even if it’s just an old email thread). In plain words, a knowledge base is a source of information that is collected about a particular subject.

As teams grow from infancy, they get smarter about what makes them run like a well-oiled machine, like new processes, pertinent research, and rules for how to operate within their team. All this useful knowledge needs to go somewhere and it’s crucial for teams to organize that information into an accessible resource.

Workers spend 20% of their work week looking for internal information or tracking down colleagues who can help with specific tasks (which folder in the Google Drive was that in again?!). The lack of clarity around teammate responsibilities and resource organization causes major frustration for any team, especially large teams. If there’s no structure to how information is stored, important data becomes siloed among team members.

So, as your team grows, you arrive at a crossroads and realize you need to make a change so that the workday isn’t consumed by tracking down documents, presentations, and spreadsheets.

The Trello Team Resources board is here to calm the organizational chaos.

Even if your team doesn’t have a formal “system,” this Trello board is a super simple way to get your team on the right track.  You can use it as a go-to resource for anything involving your team

Finally, there’s  one source of truth for team members, new or old.

Asking teammates to create a knowledge base can seem like a daunting task, akin to herding cats.

Now, don’t get me wrong—I love a good cat gif as much as the next person, but the mental image is supposed to illustrate how daunting it seems to get everyone involved in changing their information collecting process.

While this board will not solve all of your team’s problems (like who keeps eating your leftovers from the fridge)—it will provide three easy ways to to better organize your team’s knowledge base, projects, and goals in one place to guarantee better work flows and happier teammates. Can I get a “yeehaw!”?

Keep Your Priorities And Resources In Focus

Priorities change, projects shift, people circle back, however you want to call it—a major team pain point is that members often feel like there’s no clear direction or prioritization for their projects.

Team members that are able to effectively prioritize reported being 48% more engaged and 89% more likely to stay with their organization.

These three lists in your Trello Team Resources board can help your team stay organized and informed in a easy way:

1. Team Schedules This Week: This list helps break down a team’s outstanding tasks into a weekly checklist. Additionally, if any team members are out of town, the entire team is aware and can prepare for it.

2. Projects In Progress: This list is useful for projects that involve multiple team members or span multiple weeks. You’ll be able to see the bigger picture and are able to link to other relevant files or Trello Boards.

3. Up Next: Goals shouldn’t only be kept to a 12-month planning cycle (although that's helpful too, and here's a team board for that). It’s important for your team to prioritize upcoming initiatives each week to reduce uncertainty in goal setting.

As a team, not only do you need to prioritize your projects each week, but it’s important to keep the big picture in mind to make sure you’re all working towards the same goals. Break down your projects into weekly increments so you’re able to really track progress per team member.

Keep Track of Those FAQs In One Place

Anticipate common questions and frequent tasks that people might have surrounding the team. Some of these questions might include IT help, vacation policies, team mission, etc. The possibilities are endless and will be dependent on you and your team.

Resources: Think of this as the catch-all for all new pertinent items of information gathered by the team. Communicate to the team that this should be their first stop for information and always add to it if something is missing.

FAQ: Do you or your team ever find yourselves repeating the same question over and over again? Create this list to help keep track of those important answers.

Bedazzle Your Resource Board With Your Team’s Personality

Every work team is different, but studies show that the most profitable companies are the ones that have the most engaged employees. What better way to improve engagement by talking about your passions outside of work? You’ll never know what you’ll have in common with someone else. It’ll bring you closer together and help foster more trust among team members.  

Have every team member create a card that shows their role within the team. On the card back, feel free to include all pertinent job info like preferred communication channels, but also their passions, hobbies, and side hustles.

It’s not just your teammates that are special, your team has a unique set of goals that need to be accomplished. Make sure you keep everyone on the right track with clear, achievable goals and projects.

Create a card that dictates your 12-month strategy and ask for input above teammates. Keeping these yearly goals in check helps your team not lose focus, which ties back to keeping those priorities in order!

Start Compiling Team Information Today (Really... Today!)  

You’ve read the stats, laughed at the cat GIFs, and now you’re ready to start your own official team knowledge base. Once the team sees how easy it is to keep all important info in one place, keeping record of everything will be a breeze!

Good or bad, we'd love to hear your thoughts. Find us on Twitter (@trello) or write in to [email protected].

Next: Attention All Teams: Time-Wasting Meetings Are Finally Over